FA CUP: Saturday Preview

SATURDAY FA CUP PREVIEW:FA Cup third round weekend continues with some excellent games on Saturday kicking off with Man U v Reading at Old Trafford. We preview each game with a recommended BETDAQ bet.

Manchester United v Reading

12.30pm Manchester United and Reading open today’s action in the FA Cup and Jose Mourinho’s men will be looking to keep their recent winning run going. The markets certainly believe they will without too much fuss as they currently trading 1.25 in the match odds market. Reading have been going OK in the Championship this season, but it’s hard to see how they can trouble United in this form away from home. With this in mind we’re going to look to the goals markets for some value, and looking at Reading’s games in the Championship – they have certainly seen plenty of goals this season. Five of their last six have seen over 2.5 goals, with their last three having four goals or more. – we’re going to take a chance here and back over 3.5 goals at 2.48 it what could be a very entertaining game to start the day.

Birmingham v Newcastle

3pm This is one of the most interesting clashes of the 3PM kick offs and it could be a good game to watch. Newcastle currently sit second in the Championship two points behind Brighton while having played a game more. Lots of people would have thought they were certainties to finish top at the start of the season, and while they have put up some impressive scorelines, they have thrown in a few poor games too – they’ve recently lost to Blackburn and Sheffield Wednesday. These sides met in the Championship in December when Newcastle won 4-0 at home, and based on that the 1.93 to win away here looks a shade of value. Looking at the sides recent games though, it’s very hard to get away from backing over 2.5 goals at 1.99 – Birmingham have seen over 2.5 in five of their last six while Newcastle can score for fun too. We feel Newcastle are big but the better bet is over 2.5 at 1.99.

Everton v Leicester

3pm An interesting clash here with these two recently meeting in the Premier League when Everton won 2-0 away from home. With home advantage this time around, and given the way Leicester have been struggling this season, especially away from home – the 1.9 on the Everton win looks very big. Leicester just haven’t been the same team this season, everyone can now agree on that, and while Everton haven’t been performing amazingly themselves – they have been decent enough to get the job done here. There will no doubt be plenty of backers of under 2.5 goals at around the 2.0 mark – since beating Manchester City 4-2, Leicester have only found the net three times his five games. It could be worth checking what price 1-0 and 2-0 Everton win trades in the correct score market closer to kick off.

Sunderland v Burnley

3pm Another all Premier League clash and similar to Everton v Leicester above, these two have met recently in the league too. Burnley had home advantage that time around and were comfortable 4-1 winners on New Years Eve. They’ve really been struggling away from home this season though, and it’ll be interest to see how they get on here. They performed with credit against City last time out, but City were a man down early so it’s hard to read too much into that. At the time of writing the odds currently stand at Sunderland 2.36, Burnley 3.4 and the draw 3.45 – we feel based on the last meeting behind the sides Sunderland look a shade short at 2.36 – albeit we know Burnley have been poor away from home, however we’re going to take a chance and lay the struggling Sunderland at 2.36.

Preston v Arsenal

5.30pm Just when it looked like Arsenal might have a meltdown when trailing 3-0 against Bournemouth, they bounced back to finish 3-3 in an injury time goal – it was still a bit disappointing to only draw there but nonetheless spirits would have been boosted by the way it happened. They’re currently experiencing a few injury problems at the moment and it would be no surprise if Wenger named a totally different 11 than we seen against Bournemouth. With this in mind, Arsenal look a shade short at 1.48 – especially without seeing the teams. Preston will probably set out to defend in the opening half and go from there if we go to half time still 0-0, and it could take a while for Arsenal to click into gear if there is to be many changes. We feel it’s worth backing under 2.5 goals at 2.44 which looks a shade big.